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Columbus may add two Bible lit courses

Posted: Monday, April 09, 2007

COLUMBUS - Columbus education leaders soon could decide whether to offer two high school literature classes on the Bible, making it one of the state's first major school districts to adopt the plan. Meanwhile, Barrow County school administrators are poised to decide Tuesday whether to form a study committee to implement classes of their own.

At a meeting today, Muscogee County School Board members will debate whether to adopt the New King James Version of the Bible as one of the textbooks used to teach high school electives in history and literature during the Old and New Testament eras. The board is set to vote on the proposal at an April 23 meeting.

In late February, the Barrow County Board of Education renewed its debate over whether the district should offer Bible classes as a high school elective, making Barrow County Schools the first Northeast Georgia district to look at the idea.

The Georgia legislature paved the way for the courses when it passed a law in 2006 authorizing state-funded courses on the Bible to be offered in public schools, despite objections from critics who warned that the state is treading into dangerous turf.

The state Board of Education voted to adopt the classes in a March meeting, leaving it up to each school district to decide whether to offer the courses.

Barrow County board members have discussed adding the classes for a year, but didn't consider any additions until the state board approved curriculum guidelines for the courses in January.

District officials surveyed students last month to guage interest in the Bible courses, but slightly less than half of about 3,200 students who responded claimed they would sign up for literature and history classes focusing on the Old and New Testament, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.

The Barrow school board is expected to discuss the survey results and whether administrators should develop course descriptions at its meeting Tuesday.

"We plan to treat this course like any other so it will draw no lightning-rod type of attention," board chairman William Bramlett Jr. has said.

In Columbus, some members of the school board have expressed concern that the courses could be taught by teachers who don't believe in the Bible.

At a September meeting, board member Joseph Roberson questioned whether a teacher could be held accountable for the biblical teachings, saying "atheists, agnostics, Satanists or so-called humanists" could teach the courses with the possibility of "some liberalized version of the Bible to be taught."

The board also could create a citizens advisory committee to review curriculum guidelines. Board member Naomi Buckner said until the curriculum is available, the board should be open-minded.

"I want it taught by a person who believes in the Bible and who thinks of the Bible as a holy book. However, as a board member, I should try to be more objective and wait for the curriculum to come," she said. "We can review that curriculum and adopt it if we think it is objective."

The bill was approved overwhelmingly in the legislature last year, and sponsors said it was tailored to make it clear that the courses would not stray into religious teaching. It calls for the courses to be taught "in an objective and nondevotional manner with no attempt made to indoctrinate students."

But critics say the language is vague, and that it could be challenged in court if instructors stray from the letter of the law.